Team Insight

July / August 2019

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W
ould you expect someone to
give you all the time in the
world to deliver an aver-
age product, while letting
you charge as much as you
want for it? Sounds absurd,
right? This scenario is just as pie in the sky
as getting something cheap, fast and good.
Rarely, if ever, do you get all three.
The Trilemma
Known by many names, such as "the triple
constraint" or "the business triangle," the
general rule is that you can have it cheap,
fast or good, but you can't have all three.
Yet picking only two is a choice most don't
want to make.
Here's a simple example: Adam wanted
to buy an ultra-HD TV in time for the Super
Bowl. He didn't need top-of-the-line, but was
determined to go big and wanted the best
bang for his buck. Unfortunately, he waited
until two weeks before the big game and
found that the great deal he'd been eyeing
was on back order. He couldn't get it in time
and was left with three choices:
1. Order an in-stock, lower quality TV (fast
and cheap)
2. Order a comparable in-stock TV that wasn't
on sale (fast and good)
3. Wait for his dream TV to be available (good
and cheap)
Although purchasing a TV is worlds apart
from selling team sports, running a marketing
campaign, designing a website or buying a
service, the trilemma is still the same. And
whether you're a Fortune 500 company, a
tech-savvy startup, or an independent team
dealer, the cheap, fast or good rule holds
true for everyone.
So how do you pick the right two? Adam
had to choose what was most important to
him — what he valued most: price, quality
or speed. Here are some things to consider
to help you make the right choices.
Do Your Homework
If price is a priority, then preparation is
key. By planning as far ahead as possible
and building in a lot of lead time, you'll be
in a better position to bargain with vendors.
Early preparation also allows you to develop a
clear picture of your goals and communicate
them. The better they understand what you
want, the better they'll be able to deliver.
Say, for example, you're building a new
website to coincide with a product launch.
You want to go live simultaneously in English
and Spanish, but you spent all your energy
on the English site and didn't leave sufficient
time for the translation. This often leads to
one of two outcomes: high cost or low quality.
Doing your homework also means under-
standing each step in the process. Make
sure you're working with professionals who
are experts in their field. The last thing you
want is to find out that the vendor tasked
with translating your website is outsourcing
to an inexperienced translator.
Don't DIY
The Internet is full of people proclaiming
that you can have your cake and eat it, too,
that you can get it cheap, fast and good —
if you just do it yourself. In the end, you'll
often find that the time you spent trying to
be something you are not could have been
devoted to developing your core business.
Others offer tempting yet misleading ways
to get services for free. Sticking with the
website scenario, automated translation
apps and plug-ins are a perfect example.
You might think you can simply plug in your
copy and translate your website in minutes.
And you can. But will it be good? Machine
translation is far from cracking the code of
human language and all of its nuances. The
Spanish speakers who land on your website
won't be impressed, let alone stick around
very long.
Bend the Triangle
The trilemma isn't always a zero-sum game.
You can bend the business triangle, but
only within reason. Being smart in one area
can often pay dividends in others. If you've
planned very carefully in advance, you can
save your vendor time and get what you
need while keeping costs down. Also, less
expensive doesn't automatically equal cheap.
Perhaps you can find a quality product with
fewer bells and whistles — less good, so to
speak, than more expensive counterparts.
The caveat here is "within reason." To get
it reasonably cheap, fast and good, you'll
need to decide how much of each you're
willing to give up.
It's About Value
You've likely heard the old saying: "You
get what you pay for." But that only tells half
the story. The trick is not to think in terms
of price but instead in terms of value. Ask
yourself: Is it mission critical or simply nice
to have? Will fast and cheap end up doing
more damage than good? Most of the time,
you are going to sacrifice quality unless you
come to the table with a lot of time or a lot of
money. But maybe that's okay — maybe you'll
still end up with the added value you need.
You really can't have it all. But if you treat
the trilemma as question of value, you'll be
able to focus on the two aspects of it that
are right for you. n
About the Author: Matt Baird is a professional
German-to-English translator and copywriter
specializing in marketing and communications.
He also serves as a speaker for the American
Translators Association, which represents over
10,000 translators and interpreters across 100
countries. Along with advancing the translation
and interpreting professions, ATA promotes
the education and development of language
services providers and consumers alike. For
more information on ATA or translation and
interpreting professionals, visit www.atanet.org
52 Team Insight ~ July/August 2019
Make a Choice
Cheap, Fast or Good – How to pick the two that are best for you. / By Matt Baird
teaminsightmag.com
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